The ReadWriteThink website has been providing quality lesson plans, interactive student materials, web resources, and ELA standards to classroom teachers since October of 2002. Highlighted here are examples of some middle level lesson plans with a focus on back to school and creating classroom community.

Looking for more? View these strategy guides that define and provide examples of effective literacy teaching and learning strategies.

Calendar Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students. View by day, by week, or by month.

Get ready to go back to school!Students share details about their lives with one another using the interactive Graphic Map and share their memories in small groups or with the whole class.

Alphabiography Project: Totally YouThe traditional autobiography writing project is given a twist as students write alphabiographies—recording an event, person, object, or feeling associated with each letter of the alphabet.

Alliteration in Headline PoemsStudents will be introduced to the term alliteration and create a headline poem consisting of 25 words that contain at least three examples of alliteration.

Fairy Tale AutobiographiesStudents read and analyze fairy tales from several cultures, identifying common elements. Choosing common situations, students write original fairy tales, using picture books as models and a peer review process.

Book Reviews, Annotation, and Web TechnologyIntegrating technology, research, and the language arts, students work collaboratively on this lesson reviewing books and creating hypertext on the Web. Reading, writing, purpose, and audience are synthesized, resulting in a challenging and creative student project.

E-pals Around the WorldThis lesson provides teachers and students with an exciting way to build literacy skills in the classroom. Students learn appropriate formats for writing friendly letters and e-mail messages. Not only will students develop their reading and writing abilities, but they will also learn about other cultures, languages, and geographic areas.

Developing Reading Plans to Support Independent ReadingStudents identify books they have read recently and look for patterns connecting those that they enjoyed the most. Once they've analyzed their past readings, students complete a reading plan, a simple wish list of books they hope to read in the future, based on their preferences in the past. The finished list becomes another supporting resource to guide independent readers.